This beginner’s guide to essential oils is brought to you by Jen Breedlove, Young Living Distributor, and I received products in exchange for this post.

For years we’ve dabbled in natural medicine, working to avoid most over-the-counter medication for daily maladies. My dream is to have a “natural medicine chest” with go-to treatments for everything from headaches to sore throats to scrapes and cuts.

I recently partnered with Jen Breedlove, a Young Living Distributor, to review a few popular Young Living Essential Oils: Lavender and Thieves.

As I looked up facts about the oils and ways to use them (unfortunately, I had a lot of reasons the past few weeks!), I realized there’s a lot to know before jumping into using essential oils. So, mostly today’s post will give you an overview of essential oils in case you’re thinking of joining in, too!

A beginner’s guide to essential oils:

Essential oils (EO) come in concentrated form (distilled), so a little goes a long way, that’s why they come in “drop” bottles.

Use glass when storing or using EO because the oils digest plastic (a petrochemical).

Essential oils are “hot.” That is, they will “burn” in sensitive areas like your eyes, so essential oils should generally be diluted with a carrier oil (coconut or olive). Don’t dilute with water – oil and water don’t mix, remember, so that will just spread the oil around MORE and continue to irritate you!

Oils can be applied diluted, but in some cases “neat,” or full-strength, such as on the bottoms of the feet. (Always dilute for infants and children).

How to purchase essential oils

These days, you can find many brands of essential oils at any natural food store, spa, or online. But they aren’t all created equal. Most of the oils you’ll find are synthetic, not organic or natural. These are considered “perfume-grade” and just like that sounds, they basically just smell good, but won’t provide the same health benefits. Also, they’re usually diluted with solvents and alcohols. Wow, that doesn’t sound good, does it? It’s not.

So check the background of the essential oil brand you choose. I asked Jen a lot of questions about Young Living, and found out Young Living oils are therapeutic-grade (not just for the good smell!), pure, and natural. They process their oils through their unique Seed to Seal® process. Young Living partners with university experts, grows plants on their own farms, and verifies their farms grow and cultivate to their high standards (which are higher than industry recognized standards).

Instead of alcohol and solvents, Young Living uses gentle extraction methods using steam, cold pressing, and resin tapping to produce unadulterated, undiluted oils. Then these oils are tested in their own labs, and third party labs to be sure they exceed international standards.

So what can you use essential oils for?

Oh the list is nearly endless! Name a common malady, and there’s an oil and treatment for it! Essential oils can be taken internally (some people don’t agree on this point), topically, via inhalation or diffusion.

The lavender oil I tested out is good for things like burns, blisters, bites (hello, summer bug repellent!). Or itching, rashes, inflammation (bye-bye diaper rash and eczema!). I like to use it for headache relief. And I even whipped up (literally) a creamy and soothing lotion with the YL Lavender oil and coconut oil.

Thieves oil is such an interesting essential oil blend. The story is, four thieves developed this blend and used it to protect themselves while stealing from victims of the Plague! Kinda gross, but hey it worked! Thieves is a blend of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary. It smells yummy to me – like holiday baking!

I’ve used Thieves for my recent cold and sore throat, and it’s also great for anti-bacterial or anti-fungal uses (gonna have to make some spray for when we’re out in public!).

Now that I’ve tried the Young Living oils, I’m impressed and I can’t wait to try out a few more! Young Living has blends like the Joy Blend, PanAway blend, and Stress Away Blend. Know any moms who might need those!?

I’m going to be trying out essential oils to help with the frequent headaches I get and see what works best for me!

Where can I get Young Living essential oils?

There’s two ways to get Young Living oils. First, as a customer at retail price. Or…. become a wholesale member and pay 24% less than retail after purchasing a starter kit. Contact Jen Breedlove to order, become a wholesale member, or if you’re looking to become a network marketer, she’d love to chat with you about that, too!

What’s your interest in essential oils? Already using them or looking to start?

WIN IT: One reader will win a bottle of Young Living Lavender essential oil from Jen! A $31 value! Enter in the form below!

I am slowly getting into EOs and natural remedies. I’ve already started making my own elderberry syrup and dd likes it much better than what you can buy already made! We have another brand of EO for colds and it seems to help her breath better when I put it in the humidifier. I’ve been wanting to try the Thieves Oil but it is so expensive!